1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an electronic book system and more particularly, relates to a system and method for controlling distribution of electronic reading materials using an electronic book (e-book) server at different locations over a data network, and for enhanced data access efficiency at the e-book server at a designated location over a data network using an e-book.
2. Related Art
Printed materials are traditionally distributed in the form of printed books, magazines and newspapers. These traditional media are printed on paper with a page printed on each side of the paper on that when reading a book, magazine or newspaper, two pages of printed materials are exposed to the reader. These printed written materials consume vast quantities of paper and also shipping resources to transport to bookstores or newsstands for sale to the consumers, to libraries or warehouses for storage.
In recent years, virtually all commercially written materials including copyrighted materials have become available electronically on various on-line computer-based services, such as American Online®, CompuServe®, Prodigy®, the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW). Many software products have been made to assist service providers to build on-line documents into books and organize those books into a virtual library. Search engines have been devised to assist on-line subscriber (user) in searching for needed information, and subsequent downloading to their personal computers (PC) using a telephone line modem or other communication systems such as electronic books (e-books) described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,893,132 for Method And System For Encoding A Book For Reading Using An Electronic Book issued to Huffman et al. However, these electronic written materials have not always been easy, or even as desirable to use as the common book printed on paper and bound in a soft or hard cover.
Generally, electronic written materials are stored in a remote on-line bookstore (e.g., remote server which contains an inventory of written materials in electronic form) of an electronic book system as described in WO 98/08344 for Method And Apparatus For Viewing Electronic Reading Materials issued to Sachs et al. An electronic book which contains built-in communications means is then used to automatically dial and access the remote on-line bookstore over a telephone line. When a communication link is established between the electronic book and the on-line bookstore, the user may display, browse, select and request for downloading selections to the electronic book for subsequent viewing and/or printing purposes.
Unfortunately, conventional electronic book system as described, for example, in WO 98/08344 for Method And Apparatus For Viewing Electronic Reading Materials issued to Sachs et al., provides limited access rights per individual users. Individual users must log on the on-line bookstore, via the electronic book, search from different categories of electronic written materials and request for download to the electronic book. The selected materials must also be converted into an electronic book format before downloading to the electronic book for subsequent viewing over a telephone line. Special conversion software must be installed at the on-line bookstore and the electronic book to convert the selected materials into an electronic book format for the individual user to download to the electronic book for reading purposes. Otherwise, printing of the selected materials, and particularly the copyrighted materials may be prohibited. As a result, distribution of the electronic reading materials may be limited.
Accordingly, there is a need an improved electronic book system for advancing distribution of electronic reading materials using an electronic book (e-book) server at different locations over different data networks in order to improve data access efficiency at the e-book server using an e-book or similar viewing device.